Monday, May 17, 2004

zero for me, a thousand for you

A good example of what makes the Philippine electoral process the envy of wannabe corrupt nations is our practice called dagdag-bawas (add-remove).

In the tightly contested race for president, we have several mindboggling instances of statistically impossible results: in certain towns in Pangasinan and Maguindanao, incumbent Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo got all the votes. Not a single vote was cast for any of the four other candidates. Not one.

In the same places, the results of the vice-presidential race showed a more reasonable spread, with each candidate getting votes.

I know I've mentioned in private that in the case of lesser evils, I'd go with the incumbent. But this kind of cheating (as opposed to Marcos-style elan) is just stupid.